Page 82 of Where the Heart Is

She wanted to say boredom was never the issue but she’d be lying, because that’s exactly how it had been between them at the end of their marriage. She’d craved an escape, a change of scenery, anything to jolt her out of the lethargy that had been suffocating her for years. Tally Bay had provided that, and she valued the life she’d created there.

What would happen if she gave it all up for this man, her husband, and their relationship went pear-shaped again?

‘Jack, I can’t make any promises, but I know one thing.’ She framed his face with her hands so he had no option but to look at her. ‘I love you too and if I decide to stay, I’ll throw myself one hundred percent into this marriage.’

‘If you stay …’ he said, his expression mutinous.

She sighed, releasing him. ‘We need to be honest moving forward if this is to work, so yeah,if. I haven’t made up my mind yet.’

After a long pause where he couldn’t meet her eyes, he gave a brief nod. ‘Okay. I’ll take it. For now.’

A phone rang and, rolling over, Adelaide realised it wasn’t hers. Once again, she’d forgotten to charge it and the battery had died.

‘Must be yours,’ she said, not averse to perving on Jack’s bare butt as he rolled out of bed and shrugged into a dressing gown.

‘It’s in the kitchen. Be back in a minute.’

If they were to continue their confronting conversation, Adelaide would prefer to not be naked, so she slipped out of bed and pulled on a kaftan she’d left here the last time she’d slept over. Before she could splash water on her face, Jack had returned, his expression eerily blank and his mouth set in a thin line.

‘What’s wrong? Is Mila okay?’

‘That was Sam Nobil’s office.’

The moment he said who’d called, her heart sank. She’d been meaning to call the lawyer and cancel her appointment, but with all the excitement of the ball and spending every spare minute with Jack, she’d forgotten.

‘They said they tried to contact you to let you know they need to change your appointment, and when they couldn’t get through, they knew you were staying here so contacted me to pass on the message.’

The chill in his tone made her shiver.

‘Tell me, Adelaide, would that appointment have anything to do with securing a divorce, which is probably the real reason you stayed after Mila’s aborted wedding?’

‘Yes,’ she said, tilting her chin up, wanting everything out in the open so they could move forward. ‘I wanted to instigate proceedings while I was in town. But things have changed—’

‘Actually, I don’t think anything’s changed. I think you’ve been schmoozing me to make this divorce go smoothly. I think you have no intention of staying and giving us a second chance.’ His face flushed an angry crimson. ‘I think you’ve been making a fool out of me.’

It took a lot to get Adelaide riled, but when she did, she retaliated, and Jack’s stupidity in thinking the worst of her really got her back up.

‘And I think you’re being an idiot. How did they have your number anyway?’

His eyes narrowed to angry slits. ‘Because I changed my will after you left and Mila bought the farm. Understandable, considering I didn’t want a wife who’d abandoned her family inheriting a cent if something happened to me.’

‘You’re never going to forgive me for leaving, are you? No matter if I move back, how many times I profess my love, however many years I stay, you’ll always throw it in my face when we have an argument.’ Sadness tempered her anger. ‘If we’re to have any chance at happiness, Jack, you have to forgive me.’

He glared at her, his shoulders rigid, his hands balled into fists. ‘I don’t have to do anything.’

Before she could talk sense into him, because one of them had to calm the hell down before they really said something they’d regret, he whirled away, stomped down the hall, and slammed the front door.

CHAPTER

50

Mila had spent a boring two hours going over crop forecasts and harvesting timetables with Dazza in the big shed, ignoring the sound of a car engine around eleven. It had been Sawyer, because by the time she finished her meeting with her farm manager, his bag she’d left at the front door had vanished. She’d been perched on the front step since, numb, when her grandmother arrived at midday. She hadn’t been expecting Addy and was in no mood for visitors, even her gran who she’d miss terribly once she left.

It took Mila a few moments to realise Addy had arrived in her car, not Gramps’s, and her heart sank. Surely this impromptu visit didn’t mean Gran had come to say goodbye.

She’d been thrilled by how close her grandparents had been last night. Totally smitten, they’d barely left the dance floor. They’d stared into each other’s eyes like a couple of lovestruck teens, completely oblivious to everyone around them. It gave her hope that relationships do work, despite hiccups along the way.

‘Sweetheart, you look rather ragged,’ Addy said, enveloping her in a hug. ‘Tired after the ball?’

---